Mayfield Church

Newbattle Church

Newtongrange Church

Mining Museum

Prayer

What is prayer?

It’s just this: talking to God about what’s on your mind and asking for His help with the difficult and worrying stuff; and listening, then and over the days that follow, to what He has to say to you. You can also say prayers to God that say “thank you” for what He has done for you, or for people you care about.

Prayer works

We believe strongly in the power of prayer – whether it’s for “big things” like peace in places where there’s a war, or for everyday worries, such as the health of a family member or a friend’s success in finding work, or for yourself. There are many examples of prayers being answered by God – even if sometimes the response is spot-on right but isn’t what we expected! As Christians, we believe that God hears everybody’s prayers – whether they come to church or not – and will help us in the best way He can.

How to pray

There’s no special language you need to use to talk to God: you just talk to him as you would to a good, trustworthy and faithful friend. Don’t worry if what you say seems disorganised or confused – God will work it out. Maybe you want to talk out loud, or just in your head – God will hear you whatever you do. Sometimes people find that closing their eyes or kneeling helps them to concentrate better on speaking to God, but there’s no rule that says you need to do that. One of the authors of this page does some praying alone when he’s out cycling, and he prays out loud with his wife in the morning when they are together at home. Two of us did quite a lot of unplanned praying when we got into difficulties on a mountain pass – and got a rapid answer which saved the day.
Other people want to pray for you and people you care about
Would you like someone to pray for you, your family or someone you know? Within Newbattle Parish Church, there are people who will gladly pray for you and for people you’re anxious about. You can ask them to do so in several ways:

Pass on a “prayer request” from this page to our two Prayer Groups – small gatherings of people within the church who want to pray for people in the parish who need God’s help. . You give us only as much information as you want – nobody will push you for more. Click here to send a prayer request

If you attend church in our parish, post a prayer request in the Prayer Request Boxes in any of the churches.

Come in person to one of our Prayer Groups. Some people find it helps if they are praying along with other people.You don’t need to pray out loud: God hears silent prayers too! We have two groups, one that meets at 9.30-10.30am on a Tuesday morning at Mayfield & Easthouses church (at the back of the church) and one at 10am on a Wednesday morning in the old Session Room in Newtongrange. You can check before you come that the Groups will be meeting, and where:

Mayfield & Easthouses Church: Mrs Margaret McQue 0131-663 6306
Newtongrange Church: Prayer chains
You can also ask us to put your Prayer Request into our Telephone Prayer Chains. These involve even more people in praying for you, or what you’re worried about, passing on prayer requests from person to person until the chain is complete.

“What a friend we have in Jesus
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer”
Joseph Scriven (1819-1886)